Holy Nativity Episcopal School Math Teacher Wins Golden Apple

In Mrs. Amy Moody's math classes at Holy Nativity Episcopal School integers, fractions and distributive properties are the subjects of silly songs and clever gimmicks meant to help students remember. And remember, they do. For 6th grader Lauren Molander, those teaching strategies have made all the difference, making math easier to understand and in Lauren's words, downright "awesome." "She just makes math so fun," said Lauren.

"My theme is math is fun and good. We sing in class. They laugh at me because I recently found out I have attention deficit like many of them. So when I get distracted by things, they get distracted by the same things so we work together to get me focused so we can teach math together," said Ann Moody.

Winning the Golden Apple was a big surprise for Mrs. Moody, "I had a tear in my eye because this is really moving for me." But it wasn't surprising for her students, "I used to not like it so much but Mrs. Moody really helped me like math a lot," said 7th grader Liam Fischer. "It is fun it. It's a relaxed environment. We are willing to make mistakes so we can learn them," said Isabella Garza, another student.

Mrs. Moody says her own difficulties with math early in life have helped make her an effective teacher. "Math was not a strong subject for me as a child, it is something that came to me later so when I see them struggle, I know exactly what they are struggling with because I had the same issues," said Mrs. Moody.

"Every child, it changes their lives to have her for math," said Principal Judy Hughes. "She just helps us understand it better than most," said Lauren.

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